Wharton Place has been featured in several books, directories and magazines focusing on either the house or its gardens.  Spanning nearly 118 years, some of these texts are more accurate than others, often sacrificing technical accuracy for more romantic imagery.

To date, the earliest reference to Wharton Place, albeit unpublished, appeared in S. Bassett French’s 1895 notes intended for publication in a book called Annals of Prominent Virginians of the XIX Century.  In his notes for John Wharton, French offers this description:  “…He built the “Wharton House”—which stands to this day, though not now owned by any of his descendents; It is said to be, by far the finest and most costly house, ever built on the Eastern Shore of Va….”  A more recent publication featuring Wharton Place, 115 years after S. Bassett French wrote those words, appeared in the Garden & Gun August/September 2010 issue in an article entitled “Natural Order”, predictably focusing more on the gardens, than the house.  The most recent reference to Wharton Place is found in The Chesapeake House:  Architectural Investigation by Colonial Williamsburg, edited by Cary Carson and Carl Lounsbury and published in 2013.